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Despite his many years in Australia, Pietro chose his wife from among his ovm
ethnic community, a choice made possible by the continuing tight kinship and
community ties. Giovanni Maddalena, Pietro's fiiture father-in-law, had emigrated to
Australia from Gordevio in the 1850s, being joined by his wdfe Maria (nee Muscetti)
some five years later. The Maddalena and Gaggioni clans were strongly linked, several
having traveUed together on the Carpentaria to Australia. *" Giovanni and Maria had
settled in a small hut at Hepbum (within walking distance of where Pietro would later
settie) where they produced two sons (who died in infancy) and daughters Loretta and
Valeria. The family had then moved to Happy Valley near Ballarat where their last
child Giuseppe was bom. Judging by the difference in their ages — she at fourteen and
he at 36 ~ the marriage between Pietro and the eldest daughter Loretta appears to
have been a family arrangement preserving ancient endogamous traditions.* It was
also, however, a marriage of convenience, giving Loretta the financial security she
needed and Pietro a young and fit wife capable of bearing many children. The difficulty
of finding a wife in the early years of the Colony is suggested by some of the gossip
then reaching the ears of the local people, one story being that a number of men had
dravm lots to guarantee them the right to court certain women arriving on the ships
from London. It is said that a member of the BoUa family had 'acquired' his wife ~ a
woman of apparent high birth, judging by her wardrobe of beautiful clothes ~ in this
way.*^
On '^2 June 1875, in the same year in which they were married, Pietro
purchased the blocks of land which he had been farming and mining at Hepbum. The
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